Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, November 29,1973
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The Southern Cross
Busines. Office 225 Abercorn St. Savannah, Ga. 31401
Most Rev. Raymond W. Lessard, O.D., President
Rev. Francis J. Oonohue, Editor
John E. Markwalter, Managing Editor
Second Class Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Send Change of Address to P.O. Box 10027, Savannah, Ga. 31402
Published weekly except the second and last weeks
in June, July and August and the last week in December
At 601 E. Sixth St., Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Subscription Price S2.76 per year by Assement Parishes Diocese of Savannah Others SS Per Year
Energy Crisis
Presents Opportunities
(The following editorial appeared in the Nov. 15
issue of The Globe, the newspaper of the Sioux City,
la., diocese. It was written by Father Albert O.
Grendler, editor.)
All kinds of good things can happen as
a result of the energy crisis.
Unnecessary lights over the rear pews
in church can be turned off and
worshippers can come to the front and
closer to the altar -- where the action --
the Sacred Action - really is.
Walking can bring a greater
appreciation for the world of nature
around us. We miss so much by zooming
to our destinations in cars. Even slowing
down will reveal more of the beauty that
surrounds us.
Shorter shopping hours and business
hours during the pre-Christmas season
will provide more time for meditating
and reflecting on the richness of the
Advent and Christmas seasons.
Less gas for travel will make us less
mobile and bring about an increased
appreciation for the stability and
security of our homes and
neighborhoods.
Car pools will make our cars last
longer.
Cutting down on building spotlights
and gaudy commercial lighting displays
will give us a greater awareness and
appreciation of the moon’s and stars’
soft light on buildings and trees and all
other wonders of the nights.
School activities can be confined to
one or two nights a week and there will
be more time for families to discover one
another. More family and home-centered
activities will happen.
By walking many will trim down their
flabby and unhealthy waistlines and
enjoy better health.
Pollution from cars will be lessened.
Closing stores, shops and eating places
and limitig public transportation on
Sunday would revive our nearly
non-existent respect for the Lord’s Day.
I
Limiting TV viewing will mean
discovering the mind’s greatest health
food and the treasure drove in every
town - the library.
By denying ourselves the comfort of
auto transportation, 76-degree rooms
and other luxuries, we may relearn those
good, old-fashioned virtues of
self-discipline and sacrifice.
Our concern for the community will
isolate us less; we will find our needs and
desires are much the same as the
neighbor’s whose name we do not know
and find out we can be of help to one
another.
Individuals will be giving more
thought to the needs of the community,
rather than their own personal needs.
Learning to conserve energy now will
bring about a more healthy regard for
the bountiful gifts of God available in
non-crisis times.
Strike for Unity
Mary Carson
Each evening after the children are in bed,
my husband and I sit down to watch the news
on TV. Actually, he watches the news; I just
doze in my chair.
One night, a couple of weeks ago, the news
was all about strikes. The strike has become the
tool for calling attention to just about
anything.
On that particular night the firemen in New
York City were on strike and not responding to
alarms. That was bad enough, but at the same
time the city’s hospital workers had picket lines
around the hospitals preventing food and
medicine from being delivered.
Life in New York was further complicated
because citizens could find out who was on
strike only by listening to the radio or watching
TV. New York’s newspapers were also bn
strike.
The whole thing just boggled my mind, and
at that hour I boggle rather easily. I dozed
off. ..
.. .but only for a moment because I was
startled by the newscaster’s announcement that
there was a picket line around my parish church
and several simultaneous demonstrations going
on.
Lectors wanted their microphone on an
extension wire, so they could go into the
congregation and play “Stump the Choir”
before Mass.
Altar boys were demanding safer working
conditions - the replacement of candles with
electric bulbs. The altar girls were disputing this
demand. They preferred to play with fire.
The conservatives carried signs in
Latin . . .the liberals’ signs were blank.
The ecumenical group wanted to do away
with the English Mass, and rewrite it in
Esperanto.
Young curates were demanding more lee-way
regarding innovations . . .like a Latin Mass, and
that great chant with the little square notes.
The Usher’s Society wanted pews installed in
church with seats slanting down, away from the
aisles.
The Altar Sodality wanted perma-prest
linens . . .and the Rosary Society, movies of the
meditations.
Fathers were demanding a review of
schedules, so that parish functions didn’t
conflict with crucial football games.
Mothers were asking for a non-Mass, a period
of one hour in church, alone . . .when nothing
would happen. They could just sit there and
listen to the quiet.
Teen-agers wanted the altar moved to the
back of the church so they wouldn’t strain their
eyes at Mass.
In order to keep involvement at a peak, the
Parish Council was distributing strike placards:
“Catholics United For” was printed in large
letters, followed by a long list of demands. By
using these, a striker could just check off
whatever was most important to him.
The newscast cut to the inside of the rectory,
and our pastor was asked for his comments. He
was smiling, and said he thought it was
wonderful.
“Just think of it,” he said, “the entire parish
out, all together, marching up and down! It’s
the first real unity I’ve seen in years!”
OUR PARISH
U1LLL1 UUUJi-i -i—i i i i i .
“Madam, are you saying that you got your rights
at last or that you want the last rites?”
Why Older Catholics
Are Drifting Away
Reverend John Reedy C.S.C.
Catholic life in America sure would seem less
exciting if Father Andy Greeley decided to
forsake Rome to become a Buddhist... or to
forsake his typewriter and computer to become
a Carthusian.
At least once a year, it seems, Andy studies
the entrails of his computer and proclaims a
report that inevitably infuriates at least half the
Catholic spokesmen in the United States.
who was asked if he were going to join a
Protestant Church! His answer, “Sir I have lost
my faith, not my reason.”)
Well, the priests and religious, who watched
the developments which culminated in Vatican
II much more closely than did most lay
Catholics, saw years ago that this whole system
of attitudes and observance would never again
be the same.
He is rarely partisan, however. He manages to
irritate far-out liberals and conservative
chancery types, in almost equal proportions.
As anyone reading this paper must know, his
latest oracle is a study which claims that within
one year weekly Church attendance among
Catholics fifty years and over has plummeted
from 76% to 55% .. . and from 62% to 49%
among those in the thirty to fifty age bracket.
This report and its presentation will stir up a
lot of discussion and arguments, but Andy has a
pretty good track record in defending his
statistics. I’m inclined to take his word for their
accuracy and do some very personal and “iffy”
speculation about the “why.”
My first guess is that the impact of change
which triggered the massive departures of
priests and religious during recent years has
finally caught up with this age group, the most
stable segment of the Catholic population.
I would further speculate that this
phenomenon has little to do with any single
event - such as the birth control encyclical --
and even less to do with any logical arguments
about the teachings of the Church.
Instead, I suspect that it relates to the
collapse of an over-all attitude toward the
Church which characterized most of us who
developed our own religious values and
perspectives within that orderly, complete
system which was American Catholicism.
A core of certitude rooted in faith remains,
but it can no longer be stretched to cover
everything in the Catholic culture. We retain a
general conviction that there is a basic element
of legitimate authority in the Church founded
by Jesus, but there is no general agreement on
the precise limits and functions of that
authority.
Among my acquaintances, those who have
drifted into sporadic or non-observance do not
argue that the Church’s basic claims are false.
Instead, they talk about the fact that religious
observance no longer “means as much to
them.” They seem to be saying that in their
actions and attitudes, they no longer see
participation in the community life of the
Church as being uniquely important, the source
of a security and meaning which is demanded
by their perception of life.
At the beginning, I said that this shattering
of that total, uniform perspective hit priests
and religious first. But the confusion and
disorder in the life of the Church, which is
trying to rebuild itself into the renewal
perceived by the Council Fathers, was bound to
reach the older lay Catholics whose views were
basically the same as those of priests and
religious.
This is a very complex, a very sad situation.
A lot of good people are being hurt by it. And I
don’t see any simple answers. The clock can’t
be turned back; we can’t return to the days of
Pius XII.
That system was characterized by
unquestioning certitute, ultimate acceptance of
religious authority, a confidence rooted in a
massive uniformity seen as stretching across
world cultures and back through the centuries.
All of these elements came together in our
confident conviction that this was the ONE,
TRUE Church. If you were going to be religious
-- as reasonable, respectable people should be -
this was the only real option.
(How we loved that story of the fallen-away
All of us will have to confront the reality of
the Church as she sees herself today, and this is
an adjustment which is very difficult for older
people.
As part of that generation, I have shared
some of the difficulties . . . and I pray, very
sincerely, that those of us who feel that we
have managed the transition will be able to
express the compassion, the conviction, the
commitment which will make Christ’s Church
an unavoidable, significant reality for modern
man.
The Gift of Healing
Rev. Joseph Dean
The Word of God promises the gift of
healing. But all are not to receive this gift. And
not all understand the meaning of the gift of
healing. Primarily, healing is a ministry of
reconciliation.
Only after the wounds of the inner man have
been healed, will the healing of the surface
diseases occur. Sometimes the physical problem
is the very instrument leading to acceptance of
the Lord and ultimately to inner healing. The
person involved may very well enter into deeper
prayer and seek the help of other Christians in a
way that would not happen if the disease were
immediately cured.
The beginning of a Christian healing
ministry, then, is in seeking the heart and mind
of Christ Jesus, namely, that we are to become
a new creation, not just patched-up citizens or
even overhauled sinners. The Lord desires a new
order for those coming into new life in his
Body on earth, that is, his people united with
him as their head.
We can be preoccupied with an allergy or
arthritis or an ulcer or a habit of
self-indulgence, while the Lord desires for us a
new heart committed to him, a realization of
being loved and valued by him, and a spirit of
loving service to our brothers, far more
important for our lives than a quick cure of
some present pain. The Lord is concerned first
of all with the good of the whole man and the
total good of the members of the Body of
Christ.
This concern of the Lord can be called
growth healing, an ongoing healing in our lives.
Most of this results from interaction in a
praying and loving community of believers.
Phobias, prejudices, intolerances, insensitivity
to the needs of others are often suddenly
healed, at times imperceptibly. And even
special physical disabilities, damaged organs,
broken or diseased limbs are healed.
This gift of God’s healing is for all time, for
the good of all men, not just for the early
Christians.
These healings enable a person to minister to
others more effectively and to witness to the
healing love of the Lord with greater power.
Here are several practical suggestions:
1. Develop a spirit that praises the Lord for
all circumstances of life, for his love and power
can triumph in every instance.
2. Be more sensitive to the community
relationships that need healing and to the
service to which the Lord is calling each of us.
3. Be alert to a ministry through those who
can bring the gifts of the whole Body in healing
the whole man, for only by the gift of Christ
Jesus can we attain healing for the whole man
in the Body of Christ.
.V.V.V.V.'.V.V.V.V.
A Test
Of Love
Rev. James Wilmes
A familiar proverb warns sadly that when
money comes in the door, love is likely to fly
out the window. The wisdom suggested is that
the lures and temptations of wealth can spoil
everything where such affairs of the heart as
affection, liking and love are concerned.
While few of us ever obtain sudden wealth,
news reports of the behavior of those who do
seem to prove the proverb is still true. After all,
money is only power to cause things to happen
or not to happen. As power, money is to be
made much of, courted, flattered, schemed
over.
But all such tricks are fatal to true
friendship, affection and love. A wealthy aunt
floats gently on a sea of apparent affection
while a poor and needy one is left high and dry
to rot.
Most adults have power in a limited area even
though they lack money. As parents, they have
power to make and unmake their children, for
instance. But power corrupts. And the
corruption of power in our time seems to show
up most tragically in the relations of parents to
children.
“We have done everything for them,” parents
say of their youth, “and now see how they
behave, how unhappy they are, how.
rebellious.”
A wise churchman once wrote that “What we
can do for another is the test of power; what
we can suffer for another is the test of love.”
Have we in our time substituted power for love
in too many relationships, and from the best of'
intentions gathered the bitterest of fruits
thereby?
Communion
In Hand
Loses
Joe Brieg
If you ask me, I personally prefer
“Communion in the hand.” But I realize that it
is of colossal non-importance whether the priest
puts the consecrated Host on my tongue, or in
my hand. And I have no difficulty in
understanding why the U.S. bishops, at their
1973 meeting, voted against asking the Holy
See to give priests and people the option on this
point, allowing reception of the< Eucharist
either “in the hand” or “on the tongue,”
according to each individual’s choice.
One thing, and one thing only, really
matters-and that is the fact that the Risen
Christ, having restored humankind to God’s
favor by his triumph over pain and degradation
and death, comes to us in person, God and
man, in Holy Communion.
Compared with that reality-the greatest
reality in all Creation-it is inexpressibly
unimportant whether the priest places Jesus
Christ, under the sign of bread, on my tongue,
or in my hand to be transferred to my tongue.
The U.S. bishops first voted on this issue
four years ago, in 1969. At that time, 54% of
them-a majority, but far short of the required
two-thirds--favored asking the Vatican to
authorize local bishops in this country to give
their people a choice, allowing them either to
receive the Host in the usual manner, on their
tongues, or in their hands.
At this year’s meeting, in contrast, the
bishops voted 121 no, 113 yes on applying to
Rome for the permission. Not only did the
motion fail of a two-thirds majority; it did not
even win a simple majority. In the four years
since 1969, the option of Communion in the
hand had lost support among the bishops.
Why? I have no intention of trying to read
the minds of the bishops. I do know, by their
own testimony, that some of them were gravely
concerned about possible irreverent handling of
the Eucharist by some people. But I suspect
that other considerations occurred to the
bishops.
One consideration is that Communion is, par
excellence, the sacrament of unity. But it is no
sign of unity to see some people accepting the
Eucharist on their tongues while others insist
upon receiving it in their hands. This makes for
divisiveness at any Mass, not for unity. And at
this point in our pilgrimage as people of God,
one thing we can richly do without is anything
divisive.
Another factor in the decision of the
bishops, I feel sure, is their conviction that
most American Catholics are opposed to
Communion in the hand. Indeed, at this point,
Catholics are opposed to any further changes of
any kind. They vote overwhelmingly, for
instance, against a simple change to correct a
mistranslation of the Lord’s Prayer. They just
don’t want any monkeying with anything right
now..
I willingly accept, therefore, the decision of
the bishops. I think all American Catholics,
including students and members of special
parishes, should do so. It would be an act of
Christian humility and charity if they would set
aside their personal preferences and go along
with the majority Does their “democracy”
extend to acceptance of a majority decision
when it happens to be against their liking?